Masks lie and Nightmares never die
by TheFoolOfTheNoon
Summary: "Why do you wear a mask?" She asked confused. "Because my dear Twilight we all wear masks I just like to make mines obvious" This is my first story so enjoy as much as you can. Its rated T for now but it may go up. Takes place during the beginning of season 4. Review if you want this is my first story after all so some encouragement or advice would be helpful.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter: 1

Author Notes:

This is the first time I'm doing this so please tell me what you like about my story and tell me what could be improved on.

Things to remember:

"Normal speech"

_"Thoughts"_

/ Scene change/

_" Flashback"_

I'm human so I post when available.

Finally, just enjoy the ride alright?

Now for the Disclaimer: I do not own My little pony: Friendship is magic the only thing I own is The Nightmare Brothers and their Leader since they are my OCs for this story.

/

Chapter 1: Setting the stage

Location: Unknown (possibly a Mansion)

Time: Unknown

A Mansion covered in darkness stands, in a place where none has ventured. Within the walls of the mansion in midst of the darkness voices can be heard.

"Are you sure you want to do this sire?" one voice said showing its concern

Another voice spoke in the darkness "Yes despite how much this bends the rules placed on my being I wish to through with this." The voice was calm yet gave the first voice a sense of uneasiness.

"You are aware I can't cover up your schemes forever." The first voice said again voicing its concern. The second voice was about to respond until the sound of thunder was heard along with a flash of lightning causing both voices to cease momentarily. The silence was then broken by the second voice who continued the conversation as if nothing happened.

"I'm well aware of that but it must be done. Besides I done my fair share of research on the chosen subjects and their world. As a result I thought this plan through and through so there is no way that 'they' would find out." The first voice still felt concern for the second voice and pointed out one last concern.

"What about your sanity? I been told that your mental condition is failing and you are slowly losing control of your powers." The second voice let out a sigh before responding "My brothers must have told you huh? Well I will not lie the scars in my mind are opening again, threatening to become grotesques wounds and we both know what would happen once I go insane." The first voice remained silent causing the other voice to continue "Which is the reason why I must do this I not far from stepping down as your lord and checking into an asylum, this is my last request before the darkness within me finally rips me apart."

The owner of the first voice finally relented having nothing else to say "Alright as long as you are aware of the risks then there is no reason to stop you, but please make sure to keep your brothers in check I'm still trying to clean up the last mess they made." The second voice made a snicker before responding "I'll make sure to keep them on a leash so they don't cause too much damage alright?" The first voice made a sigh as it started raining around the estate with the flashes of lighting and the sound of thunder close by. "That's what you said last time." with this said the first voice left.

The second voice left alone started to ponder with his thoughts "Heh heh heh I supposed I did say that last time but with that aside I wonder how my chosen subjects will react once I present them with a word of warning. Last time I check they have experience dealing with beings such as I….. This should be interesting." Lighting then flashes to show a figure getting up from a chair and walking away.

/

Location: Ponyville (Twilight Residence)

Time: 5:12 p.m Thursday

Twilight was exhausted when she reached the door of her home. As she open the door she recalled the events that happened not too long ago that led to her current exhaustion. _"Come on Twilight give yourself more lift! You're going to get well acquainted with the ground if you don't put more force in those flaps." _Rainbow Dash yelled to a struggling Twilight Sparkle. Twilight needed help learning how to fly ever since she became an Alicorn and sought the help from her friend Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately she never knew what Rainbow had in store for her.

_"I'm trying! It look easy in the books why is I'm having trouble now?"_ Twilight said as beads of sweat cascade down her face. _"Well you just earned your wings Twilight. Besides I don't think that book covers ponies that never had wings before."_ said Rainbow Dash as she flew a bit closer to the ground. Twilight sighed because she knew her body was not yet used to having wings. On top of that the wind seemed bent on throwing her off balance _"Can we take a…break? I'm already…p..putting too much strain on my wings already."_ Twilight said rather tiredly. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head _"Not a chance Twilight. We just started… but I'll cut you a break for now, so rest for a while and drink some water but once break time is over we are going to work on your wing strength alright?"_ Twilight silently utter a thank you and landed on her hoofs so she can find a place to rest. But she dreaded what Rainbow Dash has in store for her.

Twi..light…

Twilight….

TWILIGHT!

"Huhh?!"

Twilight was snapped out of her flashback by a voice. The owner of said voice is none other than her number one assistant Spike. "So uh… are you going to come inside or not?" Spike asked confused when he found Twilight at the door zoned out. "Oh! Yes sorry Spike I was just remembering what happened with Rainbow Dash during flight training" Twilight explained slightly embarrassed that she was just standing there the whole time. "Ah she must have gave you quite a workout if it cause you to zone out in front of your own home" Spike said while quietly laughing to himself.

"So Spike, did you do everything on the list I gave you while I was gone?" Twilight asked changing the subject.

"Yeah I did"

Twilight gave him a disbelieving look "Did you double check?"

Spike felt slightly annoyed by Twilight's 'check' system but answered anyway "Yes I did Twilight"

Twilight deciding to push it a little further asked Spike one more time "…Did you triple check?" Spike now feeling annoyed gave a look to Twilight before responding "Really Twilight?" Twilight smiled before she started laughing. This took the baby dragon off guard before he realized she was joking "Hey! No fair I actually thought you were serious about that!" Spike said upsettingly. "Sorry, just wanted to mess with you a bit" said Twilight who just recovered from her laughing fit. "You can go ahead and relax now Spike I won't be doing much for the rest of the day" Spike let out a yawn signifying that he needed some rest "And not a moment too soon, if you need me I'll be in bed" Spike then went upstairs leaving Twilight to herself.

"Alright I have the rest of the afternoon to myself which means I have plenty of time to do some reading" Twilight said to herself as she started to look through the shelves of the library. A few minutes has passed before Twilight noticed a book that looked off from the rest. Using her magic she took the book off the shelf and examined the cover. It was simple in appearance mimicking the looks of the books in Twilight's library. On the front cover it said Journal "Huh? What's a journal doing here?" Upon closer examination she found the owner's name on the back of the journal "Sir Desmond Dreamwalker? I don't know anypony by that name." She opened the journal up and turned to the first page finding a couple of entries.

_Journal entry one_

_Date: 4/7/2000_

_This is the first time I ever thought of writing down my thoughts on paper. But my mother got it for me so I might as well use it. However today was uneventful so there is not much to write about unfortunately so I'll just end this entry here._

_Journal entry two_

_Date: 4/28/2000_

_Today was my Mother's 10th birthday and the first party I ever been to. My Mother told me this count's as my birthday as well which officially makes this my 1st birthday. I got to taste a sweet substance called cake it was delicious until she pushed my face into it. That's when I learned how to have fun at parties and laugh at myself. When it was time to open presents I was interested at the objects laid out before me. I didn't know what they were until my Mother told me they were toys and board games. She said that with these objects we'll get to play with each other more especially with the board games. I never felt happier before and it's the main reason why I decided to write it down._

Twilight paused to think about what she just read. So far it didn't make any sense; first off his mother just became 10 years old while he became one year old. Secondly he acted much older than his mother yet knew very little about the world. Twilight ponder about this as she continued reading the journal into the night causing her to develop new questions as she read each entry she didn't stop until a certain owl alerted her.

"Hoo!"

"Huh? Oh it's you Owlicous what do you need?" Twilight asked her assistant of the night.

Owlicous flew near a nearby window and continued to Hoo telling her she should go to sleep. "Oh its night I should really go to bed. I'll need all my energy if I'm going to get through another day with Rainbow Dash. Thanks for reminding me Owlicous." The owl in question roosted nearby and bowed its head in response. Before leaving for her bedroom Twilight placed a bookmark in the journal and placed it back in the shelf where she found it "Make sure everything is in order before I wake up alright Owlicous?" The owl made a Hoo showing it knew what do. Twilight smiled at the owl knowing there was nothing to worry about then left for her bedroom. It wasn't long until the house was covered in the darkness of night and the soft glow of the moon.

/

Location: Outside Twilight's home

Time: 9:05 p.m. Thursday

Once the house went dark it didn't take long for three mysterious figures of different sizes to appear outside of Twilight's home.

"She's asleep now; I believe it's time to send the word around" Said the tall one in an unnervingly calm tone.

"Oooo.. I agree. This will be so much fun!" Said the average size one in an excited tone

"Quiet! You imbecile do you want our presence to be known?" Said the tall one angrily

"Heh heh sorry, what about you El Gassy Murete are you excited?" said the average one to the small figure in a teasing tone. The small figure did not reply but instead glared at him with piercing yellow eyes "Pfft.. I see you have game-face on, So Paranoia how are we going to do this?" The figure asked to the tall one now known as Paranoia

"It's simple dear brother there's six of them and three of us. If you actually use your head even you could figure it out" said Paranoia in a slight mocking tone. The average figure took a few seconds before coming with an answer "Ah! I get yah, each of us send the message to two of them. That's how we going to do it eh heheh?

Paranoia was impressed by his brother's deduction since there were times that he didn't use his brain "Exactly and for getting it right you get to choose your targets first." The average figure was elated to the point of bouncing up and down "Goody! I'll choose… the shy one and the colorful one." And with this said he disappeared into the night.

"Good riddance don't you agree Fear?" Paranoia asked the small figure now known as Fear. "….Panic…..annoying" Fear responded without a hint of feeling. Paranoia lightly chuckled knowing Fear's initial dislike of their brother Panic but quickly changed the topic back to normal. "Now back to our current situation, since Panic took two of the six targets that leaves the rest to us. I want you to go after the ones called Applejack and Pinkie Pie while I'll go after Twilight Sparkle and Rarity agreed?" Fear made no response but instead a silhouette of wings appeared behind him and with a sinister laugh he took to the skies disappearing in the darkness.

Paranoia now left alone melted into the shadows and reappeared in Twilight's bedroom a few inches from the side of her bed. "The first alicorn I seen outside the dream realm and I'm about to do something terrible just to send a message from our lord. Heh heh is it wrong to enjoy this?" Paranoia whispered lightly to himself.

"Hoo Hoo"

"Huh?" Paranoia looked behind him to find Owlicous attempting to wake Twilight up with its natural call. "Oh I almost forgot about you, you dumb bird. Trying to wake up your master are you?" Owlicous continued to make its call. Making it louder but Paranoia remained calm knowing that the owl wouldn't succeed. "I'm sorry but I can't let you do that my Lord would be most displeased." As he finished his sentence Owlicous was quickly snatched by a unseen force and brought face to face with Paranoia. "So would you kindly go to sleep?"

Those were the last words Owlicous heard before feeling extremely tired and falling into the ground. The last thing the owl saw before falling into a deep sleep was Paranoia's most defining feature a Black Bird Mask.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Message from Terror

Author notes:

Here's the next chapter…. Well that's it. There isn't much more I can say well except. Remember the things from the first chapter and enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: Like I said before I don't own My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic just my four Oc's Panic, Paranoia, Fear and their Lord who shall not be named for the story sake.

/

Location: Dreamscape (Twilight's Dream)

Time:?

Books as far as the eye could see line Twilight's sight as she walk down the halls of the imaginary Library. She was first excited from the sight of all these books but grew slightly disappointed when she remembered they are not real but instead illusionary objects created by her mind showing one of her many desires. "If only a library like this existed in real life then I would spend most of my free time reading books I never even seen before." Twilight thought to herself as she continued down the hall but stopped when she saw a shadow on the floor. She looked up to find a strange bird face being floating above her taking one of the book's in the library and reading it.

Questions filled her mind wondering why this being appeared in her dream but the only logical conclusion she came up with is that the being could be the caretaker of her dream library. "I wonder if I can communicate with it?" she questioned not knowing if it was wise to disturb the mysterious being. "Uh excuse me? Do you take care of the books here?" The being paused for a moment before placing the book it was reading back in the shelf. The being then descended to the floor with its back facing her. The being then spoke to her in a well-mannered tone "No I'm not" then it took another book from the shelf in front of it and started to read. Twilight was confused if it wasn't a caretaker then why is it here? It didn't make sense one bit to her since this is a dream she could have made up a caretaker for this library but this being is not a caretaker which led to one possible answer. This being invaded her dream and is walking around in her thoughts.

"I'm guessing by the look on your face. You've realized I'm not part of your dream" the being said breaking Twilight out of her thoughts. The being was now looking at her giving her a full view on the being's appearance, it was humanoid in shape wearing what appears to be a black duster coat that is button up showing only the beings legs. The coat is also decorated with odd patterns that seem to give off an aura of uneasiness to Twilight as she looked at it. The being's head was covered by its most defining feature, a black bird mask and a red fedora. Twilight judged it is a human male but at the same time it wasn't human and the way it dresses shows that it's well bent on keeping its identity hidden. "And now you are observing me. What is it about me you find interesting? Haven't you seen what a human being is like personally and more or less become one yourself?" The being asked rather offhandingly. The question surprised Twilight since she didn't tell anyone about her parallel world encounter so how could he have known she became human once?

"Just who are you?" questioned Twilight who now begun shaking as started to feel cold. The being gave off a small laugh before putting away the book in his hand "Well isn't that the question of day." He replied mockingly causing Twilight to grow a bit annoyed but before she could say anything the being continued talking "But if you really want to know I'm a messenger sent to give you a ….. Word of warning so to speak" Twilight grew confused "A warning? But from who?" The being said nothing but instead reach inside the pocket his duster and pulled out a scroll and gave it to her. Twilight opened the scroll and read its contents;

_**Dear Mane Six,**_

_**I've been watching you for a while now. All your lessons, triumphs, and somewhat amusing breakdowns I seen them all and because of your exploits I have issued a challenge for all of you. This is how it will go; starting tomorrow somepony you know will be marked and you got till nightfall to figure out who it is because I will be sending one of my messengers to foalnap the marked target. This will also happen for the two days following. Your challenge is to prevent the attempted foalnapping of at least one of the three targets. Succeed and any pony foalnapped will be returned unharmed and you will be rewarded for your troubles. Fail however then those who are foalnapped are mine to keep but if such circumstances happen find my humble home and talk to me in person I'm sure we can work something out. Finally you are able to use any means necessary to complete the challenge. With this said I wish you good luck on this endeavor but no doubt you disappoint especially you Twilight Sparkle.**_

_**Sincerely, **_

_**Lord Nightmare**_

Twilight paled as she finished reading the letter remembering how much trouble Princess Luna's darkness simply known as Nightmare caused. It even possessed her friend Rarity just to make sure the elements of harmony could be used against it. But it isn't the same Nightmare the way the letter was written shown that this Nightmare considers this a game then an actual threat. "Excuse me for interrupting your thoughts but I think you should start running now princess" Twilight was again for the third time broken out of her thoughts by the messenger. She faced the messenger to ask why but quickly regretted it. The messenger was giving off a murderous vibe as the shadows around him grew "I'll give you the count of ten before I start chasing you" The messenger said in a tone far more sinister then the tone he gave before.

To say Twilight was scared is an understatement she was terrified. Her mind told her only one thing and one thing only, to get away from him as quickly as possible. "One…." Needing no other warning Twilight quickly ran off in the direction she came "…Ten." The messenger let out a sinister laugh as the shadows around him headed where Twilight ran.

Twilight ran for what seemed like forever in the endless library her mind was beyond terrified she felt as if everything was watching her. "Okay Twilight you got to pull yourself together. Remember this is a dream and in a dream you can do anything you just need to calm down" Twilight stopped running and sat down taking deep breaths to calm her nerves knowing that the shadows weren't far behind. As she looked down the path she ran from, the shadows were closing in on her giving her only little time to think of a counter-measure. Thankfully she thought of one but it would take some time for her to use it. Just as her Horn started glowing the shadows surrounded her giving her nowhere to run but she didn't plan on running.

"This is interesting why are you just sitting there?" Question the messenger who just walked out of the shadows. Twilight didn't respond causing the messenger to question her further "Nice light show with your horn there but I don't think it's going to help you much in this situation princess" Twilight smirked which surprised the messenger because this is not the reaction he had foreseen but quickly assumed what she's was doing "Are you going for a light spell? Unfortunately that won't work in this situation, my shadows have the ability to absorb light so you're out of options my dear" He said confidently.

"Sorry to tell you this but I wasn't preparing a spell" The messenger was confused since the only other way she could have got out of this situation is by imaging something in her dream and he was well prepared for that. He even placed a strong magic seal on her to prevent her from waking up she can't be that strong could she? "Inconceivable…." Is all the messenger could say before Twilight faded from dream signifying she had woken up.

/

Location: Twilight's Home (Bedroom)

Time: 5:45 a.m Friday

Twilight woke up a bit shaken from her experience with the messenger "That was close it was a good thing he underestimated me or else that would have ended differently. But the message still worries me I have to tell my friends and Princess Celestia and Luna what happened." As she got out of bed she heard the sounds of her friends pounding and screaming at her front door.

/

And that ends chapter 2 I hope you enjoyed it because I know I did but then again I wrote it. So go ahead and tell me what you think so far. This is TheFoolOfTheNoon signing off for now…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Game Plan

Author's notes

Hey it's TheFoolOfTheNoon here with some things to say,

First off I have college so if I don't update sooner than usual on chapters now you know why.

Second off remember to look back at the first chapter for reminders okay?

And finally the disclaimer: I do not own My little Pony; Friendship is magic I only own the Nightmare Brothers Panic, Fear and Paranoia. Their leader Lord "Nightmare" is also an Oc (By the way Nightmare is not his real name).

With that out of the way let's continue the story.

/

Location: Twilight's Home (Library)

Time: 5:46 a.m Friday

Twilight quickly dashed her way down the stairs to open the door but quickly regretted doing so; her friends were in such a rush to get inside Twilight's home they unintentionally ran her over as they went in. "Twilight! Where are you? We have big trouble on our hooves here!" Rainbow Dash said in panic "Yeah big trouble! somebody wrecked the Sugar Cube Corner!" added Pinkie Pie who is also in a panic. "Hey! The same darn thing happen to apple farm. Did they leave a message as well?" asked Applejack "Yeah they did. It was carved into the wall" Pinkie Pie responded suddenly taking a calm tone. Before they could continue the conversation a sleepy voice interrupted them "Hey what's going on guys?" asked Spike as he walk down the stairs recently awakened by the ruckus. "Oh Spike have you seen Twilight? We need to talk to her it's of upmost importance." Rarity asked rather calmly hiding that she was actually quite shaken.

Spike looked at the doorway "Uhh… have you checked the new doormat you just stepped on?" he said somewhat confused. The others looked to the door noticing a slightly bruised lump which happens to be their friend Twilight. "Oww…" Twilight said pained as she got up from the floor. Her friends were quick to apologize;

"Eh… sorry bout that Twi"

"Yeah my bad"

"sorry…"

"Sorry darling easy mistake"

"Ooo… sorry Twilight I would get you an Apology Cupcake but the pony who wrecked The Sugar Cube Corner also ate all the Cupcakes!"

"It's alright, wait…. Somepony wrecked the Sugar Cube Corner!?" Twilight said in surprise. "Not just that somepony also wrecked Applejacks farm!" Pinkie added. Twilight shook off her surprise and began to wonder if the messenger who attacked her in her dream had something to do with this. "Hey! What about me? I got attacked by some masked weirdo when I was reading Daring Do." Said a neglected Rainbow Dash "same… h.h.e..re…" added Fluttershy visibly shaken by her encounter. "Masked weirdo? Was it a black bird mask?" questioned Twilight. Rainbow Dash took second to think "Uh…no actually it didn't look like anything, it only covered half the guy's face."

While they were talking Rarity visibly shook when Twilight mentioned the bird mask and Spike was quick to notice this "What wrong Rarity? You shook when Twilight mentioned a bird mask." Rarity bit her hoof before answering

"Unfortunately I did indeed have an encounter with a stranger who wore a black bird mask. He invaded my dream and after a brief conversation he handed me a scroll with a message on it." Rarity was close to breaking out in tears but continued anyway "Once I read it he attacked me with shadows, I ran away as far as I could but no matter how far I ran he was always behind me. Eventually I ran into a dead end and he had me cornered. The shadows then started to cover me until only my head was left. He then got down on one knee so we were looking eye to eye and said that it was enough fun for one night. He then snapped his fingers and before I knew it I woke up."

Spike feeling pained that the mare of his dreams is suffering walked up to her and gave her a comforting hug around her neck "Just let all out Rarity you're not alone here" Spike said with comfort. Rarity was no longer able to hold back the tears and started to cry "It was absolutely terrifying! It felt like history was going to repeat itself again!" she cried. This outburst caught the attention of her friends who immediately went over to her to see what's wrong. "Rarity what's wrong? You just suddenly started crying" asked a concerned Twilight.

Rarity tears kept cascading across her face already colored in her makeup, showing no signs of stopping but despite that she managed to reply "Twilight…remember when you asked Rainbow Dash if the stranger she saw was wearing a black bird mask? I… saw a stranger in my dream who wore such a mask but these other incidents you were talking about… is it possible that they are related somehow?" Twilight eyes widen when Rarity said she had a encounter with the same bird mask stranger as her but judging the way acting right now she wasn't so lucky. Twilight also processed what she heard so far from her friends _"Rarity just helped confirm my suspicions they are definitely related. They were sent to deliver a message but in their own way. But one question still bothers me, why us?" _

"Hey Twi you still with us?" asked an increasingly impatient Rainbow Dash "Huh? Oh sorry girls I was just thinking about all your encounters including my own and by the sound of it we can't shake it off like it was nothing." Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow annoyed, "Of course not. Whoever these guys are, have no business messing with my friends" "Course you feel that way Dash but we need to focus on figuring out who's the marked pony. But how in tarnation are we going to find him or her. I mean it's like finding a needle in a haystack" added Applejack. Twilight smiled remembering what the message said "Well the message they gave us did say we can use any means necessary to complete the challenge which means…" Her friends then started to smile even Rarity who just recently stop crying knew what she was implying.

"Spike, ready a letter to Princess Celestia and Luna" said Twilight with confidences in her voice. Spike nodded and released his arms from Rarity to go get a scroll a quill. Twilight then faced her friends "Girls, go back to your homes search for any clues you think might be useful while I arrange a meeting with the Princesses okay?" They said nothing but nodded to her with acknowledgement before leaving. "Whoever you are Lord Nightmare, Challenge accepted."

/

Location: Applefarm (Applejacks home)

Time: 6:24 a.m Friday

Applejack ran to her home seeing it under repairs due to the incident last night but before she could check the damage herself a familiar voice gained her attention. "Hey big sis where did you go? I wanted to show yah something" asked a rather excited Applebloom. Applejack sighed not wanting to deal with her right now "Not now Applebloom I need to check the farm. You can show whatever it is to me later" with that said she left leaving Applebloom rather disappointed.

"Aww… shucks and I thought she would be real excited to know I got my cutie mark…"

/

Author notes

Well that took a while but it's done. Now I want you to stand there reading that line until the next chapter alright?

But just to be serious I let you know I'm currently doing college work as well as this so expect some delays just in case you didn't bother to read the note above.

So yeah a question for those who read this 'Who do you consider to be your favorite pony from the show?' Honestly for me Twilight Sparkle but hey the rest of the cast is just as entertaining. Well that's it TheFoolOfTheNoon signing off.


End file.
